Return of Senju
by Advent of Shadows' Archive
Summary: Jiraiya did not know what he expected when he went to ask Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage, but learning that she had a twelve year old son was not it. Recognizing the boy as his godson and the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox... Abandoned


Disclaimer: I do now own Naruto. If I was, then Hanzo of the Salamander would have used ninjutsu in his fight with Mifune. Now we don't know what type of jutsu he uses. The madness! Just kidding. But serious, I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Jiraiya did not know what he expected when he went to ask Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage, but learning that she had a twelve year old son was not it. Recognizing the boy as his godson and the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox... well, that wasn't even something he thought would happen in a million years, especially after the young blond disappeared from the village nearly seven years earlier without a trace.

* * *

><p><strong><span>1. Surprising Discovery<span>**

Jiraiya had been nervous ever since he arrived in Tanzaku Quarters. He had not spoken with his kunoichi teammate since before the end of the Third Great Shinobi War. It had been over twenty years since they had last actually sat down together and talked for more than an hour though.

He thought over recent events and sighed. The reason that he was in the city was because he needed to convince Tsunade to take up the position of Fifth Hokage. Less than a month earlier, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, had died in combat against Orochimaru, the only true traitor of the Sannin.

Jiraiya knew that things would have gone differently if his sensei had continued to train and fight since the end of the last war, but the man was long past his prime. Still, he had managed to defeat the First Hokage and the Second Hokage after Orochimaru resurrected them using Summoning: Impure World Resurrection.

It was just a shame that Sarutobi had been forced to use the Reaper Death Seal to seal away the resurrected Hokage.

It was even more of a shame that Orochimaru had used a subordinate as a substitution to evade the technique, so he came out of the ordeal mostly unharmed while the Third Hokage died.

The village had been saved nonetheless though. By the time Orochimaru won his fight, Jiraiya, Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Asuma Sarutobi, and many other powerful shinobi had arrived, forcing the White Snake to flee. Outnumbered by powerful shinobi, even he knew that he could not win.

If not for the joint attack by the Hidden Sand Village and the Hidden Sound Village, Jiraiya doubted that Orochimaru would have been able to fight Sarutobi without anyone interrupting the fight. As it was, Jiraiya had been forced to fight some snake summonings while Kakashi, Guy, and Asuma fought the run-of-the-mill Sound jonin. From what he heard, apparently an ANBU with the codename of Tenzo fought the jinchuriki of the One-Tail and subdued him using Wood Style ninjutsu.

'One of Orochimaru's experiments must have survived.' Jiraiya thought as he shook his head at his former friend's actions. He had not yet forgiven himself for failing to bring Orochimaru back to the village all those years ago. If he had, then Orochimaru would be dead by now.

Following the death of Sarutobi, and the subsequent funeral, the Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had approached Jiraiya and asked him to be the Fifth Hokage, which he turned down for various reasons.

Hearing that Danzo Shimura was under consideration as well, Jiraiya had made them a counter offer. If they wanted a Sannin to be Hokage, then he would convince Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage. If he failed, then he would take the position himself.

He would not allow Danzo to take the hat no matter what.

And that was what brought him to Tanzaku Quarters. It was where Tsunade was supposed to be. From her past behavior, he had concluded that she always came to Tanzaku Quarters from the fifteenth of August to the fifteenth of September.

"Now, the tricky part is finding her." Jiraiya said with a heavy sigh. It was fortunate that she had likely only been in the city for a few days. He figured that it would take a while to find her.

* * *

><p>A week passed before Jiraiya spotted Tsunade leaving a casino with slumped shoulders and nothing in her hands. It was easy for him to tell that she had just lost quite a bit of money.<p>

'She never changes.' Jiraiya thought as he began to follow her from a distance. He knew that she was very difficult to sneak up on or follow stealthily, but she was incapable of sending him with his chakra suppressed and in such a large crowd. The distance that he was keeping helped too.

Jiraiya's previous thought was overturned a few minutes later when Tsunade reached the hotel that she was staying at.

Standing in front of said hotel were two figures.

One was a black haired woman dressed in a black kimono. She appeared to be in her late twenties.

'That's Dan Kato's niece, Shizune.' Jiraiya thought as he stood in an alleyway across the street from them and studied over her appearance quite carefully. It had been a long time since he had seen her. Tsunade had taken her on as an apprentice, last he heard.

The second figure was a boy of no more than thirteen years old. He was clearly short for such an age, and he had spiky blond hair. Turning to talk to Tsunade, Jiraiya was treated with shock. The boy had brilliant blue eyes and whisker-like marks on his cheeks.

Even dressed in the black male kimono that he was, Jiraiya was able to recognize the boy.

'Sarutobi-sensei said that he was never found….' Jiraiya thought in shock. The boy was Naruto Uzumaki, the son of the Fourth Hokage and the second jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. He was also the third jinchuriki of the fox. More than that, though… he was Jiraiya's godson.

"Why is he with Tsunade and Shizune?" Jiraiya asked himself, not realizing that he spoke aloud.

Snapping to attention, the blond boy drew three needles from the sleeve of his kimono with a snap of his wrist and sent them flying toward Jiraiya, who was caught off guard by the motion.

Jiraiya tried to dodge the needles, but he did not even see them until they were nearly at him. A single needle struck his arm, and he fell to his knees.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Shizune asked as she looked at her adoptive brother carefully.

"You seem to have hit a toad." Tsunade mused as he spotted Jiraiya. She had almost stopped Naruto from throwing the needles when he drew them, but she trusted his judgment. "Let's go say hello."

Jiraiya was treated with a feeling of shock as the two kunoichi and his godson walked right up to him. He was still on his knees, unable to move a centimeter.

"You poisoned your needles again?" Shizune asked, glancing down at the blond once they reached Jiraiya.

"Of course I did." Naruto said as he crossed his shoulders. "It's just a mild neurotoxin. I guess I missed since I only see one of them. He should be paralyzed for another five minutes at most."

Jiraiya was not sure what to say at that point. His godson had just hit him with poisoned needles. The poison was very familiar too. He would have asked what kind of poison it was, but he was completely paralyzed. He could not blink or move his lips.

"I told you not to teach him to use poison." Tsunade said as she sighed. "I thought you understood how much he looks up to that Salamander from everything he's heard in our stories about him. I don't even want to know where he found salamander poison."

'So I was right… the boy used salamander poison on me.' Jiraiya thought.

"You do have the antidote, right?" Tsunade asked, sighing again as she looked at Naruto. Seeing him nod, she said, "Administer enough to that he can speak. I don't want him to move though. Not yet, at least."

'What in the hell? Is she serious?' Jiraiya thought in annoyance.

With a nod, Naruto removed a syringe from a hidden pocket in his obi and injected a small portion of liquid into Jiraiya's right arm.

"Damn it; that hurt." Jiraiya said as felt the urge to rub the area where he had been given a shot. He could not do so though.

"He's not a doctor. That's to be expected. You're lucky he remembered where to give the shot." Tsunade said as she crossed her arms. "Now… what in the hell are you doing here, Jiraiya?"

"I came looking for you." Jiraiya said as he rolled his eyes. 'Hey, I can blink now. That's awesome.'

"Sneaking up on a ninja is not advised." Tsunade remarked. "Be glad that he doesn't use lethal poisons, though he certainly knows how to make them and treat them."

"I wasn't expecting to see him here." Jiraiya said as he felt feeling begin to come back to the rest of his body.

"You know who he is?" Shizune asked in surprise. She had not expected to hear that.

"Of course I do." Jiraiya said. "Sarutobi-sensei said that he was missing. It's been nearly seven years now."

"You must have him mixed up with someone else. This is Naruto Senju, my son." Tsunade said, throwing Jiraiya for a loop that he had not expected. "Now, meet us in room three hundred nineteen. We will finish this conversation in private there."

With that, Tsunade, Shizune, and Naruto entered the hotel, leaving the semi-paralyzed Jiraiya behind.

Before they entered, however, Jiraiya spotted something else that was unexpected. Around Naruto's neck hung the necklace of the First Hokage. That seemed to cement Tsunade's words in his mind.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, Jiraiya entered the hotel room and found Naruto sitting in the window sill while Tsunade and Shizune were sitting in chairs. Shizune's eyes were focused on her brother while Tsunade's were focused on the door Jiraiya just walked through.<p>

Tsunade recognized a mixture of annoyance and pride on the pervert's face automatically. She had to guess, she would have said that he was annoyed at being paralyzed and left on his knees in an alleyway at night in Tanzaku Quarters. The pride aspect was likely from seeing his godson cause said paralysis on instinct.

All of the sudden, Naruto snapped his wrist back and made as if to throw needles, causing Jiraiya to jump out of the way.

Shizune started to giggle when Naruto went to scratch the back of his head and Jiraiya noticed that Naruto had not actually thrown any needles.

"That's not funny!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "Do you really let him walk around with poisonous needles?"

"He's almost a teenager. I've learned to pick my battles." Tsunade said with a yawn. She would not admit it then, but it was she who told him to always carry some form of projectile weapons on his body, along with at least one bladed weapon, like a kunai or a knife. She _might_ have suggested that he use his poisons, though she had not actually expected him to do so.

"Don't be such a bother, Pervy Sage." Naruto said with a yawn. "I was just messing with you. I can't prank Mom or Shizune. One has monstrous strength while the other taught me everything I know about poisons."

"Quit referring to it as 'monstrous strength.'" Tsunade said as she mock glared at him.

"Sorry." Naruto said with a grin that made no assurances that he would not do it again.

"Did you just call me 'Pervy Sage'?"

"Shizune said you were a sage, and Mom said you were a super pervert. Hence… Pervy Sage." Naruto said as he crossed his arms in satisfaction.

"Oh, woe to me. You wound me so, Tsunade." Jiraiya said dramatically. He would not admit that he liked the nick name.

"Why are you here, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked suddenly. "I want to know now. I've been careful to avoid all Leaf ninja since I took Naruto in."

"So you admit that he is Naruto Uzumaki." Jiraiya said, looking at his former teammate carefully.

"He is Naruto Senju. Naruto Uzumaki went missing long ago. He has birth records showing that he was born here in Tanzaku Quarters, and I am listed as his mother." Tsunade said.

Jiraiya sighed. "Just tell me what in the hell is going on."

"He said a bad word. He should be punished." Naruto said as he reached for a brace of senbon that was on the table next to the window sill. Shizune snatched them before he could though.

"Don't be such a corruptible influence, Pervy Sage." Shizune said, causing Jiraiya to sigh once again.

"A month before the sixth year anniversary of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack, Sarutobi-sensei approached me." Tsunade said with a sigh. She knew that she had to tell Jiraiya the truth. Naruto's identity was at risk with him aware that the blond was actually Naruto Uzumaki. "He told me about the little Naruto."

"What did he tell you?" Jiraiya asked curiously.

"He was being mentally and emotionally abused. Sensei could stop people from physically harming him or revealing the secret of what is inside of him, but they ignored him when possible and talked down to him when it wasn't. I won't go into too many details on that front, but I'll tell you that it was hard on him." Tsunade said, glancing at the now very silent Naruto. "Sensei asked me if I would be willing to raise Naruto away from the village to give him a mostly normal life. In exchange for paying my debts off and releasing Shizune and I from any and all responsibilities to the village, I accepted."

Jiraiya's eyes widened at that. He had never imagined something of that nature.

"It wasn't a bad deal." Naruto remarked. "Your debt would be even more mountainous if you did not take it." Shizune giggled at that. It was true.

"Laugh it up brat." Tsunade said as she shook her head. "And yes Jiraiya, Naruto knows about the deal."

Jiraiya was surprised to hear Tsunade answer his unspoken question, but he remained quiet.

"On the night of Naruto's sixth birthday, Sarutobi-sensei used a genjutsu to put Naruto asleep and took him away from the village. Using a shadow clone to hide his own disappearance, Sarutobi-sensei brought Naruto to Tanzaku Quarters and handed him over to me." Tsunade said with another sigh. "The deal was for us to raise him until he was twelve. If I decided that I wanted to adopt him before he turned twelve, however, then he could stay with us indefinitely. I adopted him nearly five years ago."

'Sarutobi-sensei knew?' Jiraiya thought in shock. 'He organized the whole thing? I knew he was cunning, but I never imagined him doing that.'

"I still remember that." Naruto said with a smile as he remembered his eighth birthday. It was when he became Naruto Senju. It was also the day that Tsunade planted his fake birth records in the files of all the necessary places to ensure that no one could deny his existence.

"Now, that's all you really need to know. You seem to have evaded my question though. Tell me why you are here, or I will send you to the Land of Water, courtesy of my fist." Tsunade said as she clenched her right hand into a fist.

Jiraiya decided not to question the plausibility of that threat. Thus, he began to tell them what happened in the Hidden Leaf Village during the Chunin Exams and finished it off by saying, "And the councilors want you to be the Fifth Hokage."

"No." Tsunade said. "Why would I want to be Hokage?"

"I half expected you to say it's a fool's job." Jiraiya remarked. He actually expected it more than half.

"I can understand why you would want to protect someone, even at the cost of your own life." Tsunade said as she looked at Naruto. "It's not a fool's job, but I can't commit to something like that. I have to protect Naruto. We both know about _them_."

'She knows about Akatsuki?' Jiraiya thought. He could not be surprised though. He had told Sarutobi about the organization.

"There are only two other candidates. I am one, and Danzo Shimura is the other." Jiraiya said hastily. He knew that he had to get her interested quickly if he did not want to become Hokage.

"When do we leave?" Tsunade asked, earning chuckling from Jiraiya.

"We're leaving?" Naruto asked in surprise.

"Damn straight, we are. I'm not leaving my grandfather's village in the hands of a super pervert or that damned war hawk." Tsunade said, almost in a growl. "We might as well go anyways. Perhaps it will be safer."

Naruto nodded absently. From what he had heard, not even Akatsuki was aware of his location, though he was sure that they would find him in time. The idea of an organization of ten ninja as strong as his mother unnerved him still.

"That's great news." Jiraiya said cheerfully. He saw the practicalities of having Tsunade as Hokage, and Naruto's presence would only make it better for various reasons.

"I'm sure it is. Of course, you'll have to explain the situation to the advisors." Naruto said as he hopped out of the window sill. "They will probably be the only ones to recognize me. Most of the others probably forgot I even exist."

Jiraiya sighed as he agreed with the blond. Since Naruto's disappearance, the Uchiha clan had been massacred and the village had been jointly attacked by two villages. Quite a few changes had occurred as a result. It was not implausible that the only ones that would remember the boy that everyone ignored were the advisors… and Danzo, of course. Danzo never forgot anything important.

"We'll get to it when we get to it." Tsunade said as she cleared he throat. "Jiraiya, go back to your hotel. Be back here at eight in the morning. If you're not here, we'll leave your ass behind."

Chuckling, Jiraiya left.

As soon as Jiraiya was out of the room, Tsunade turned to look at Naruto.

"You have plans yet?" Tsunade asked her son.

"I won't go back on my word." Naruto replied. "I made that promise nearly four years ago, and I intend to keep it."

Shizune looked sadly at her adoptive brother and her mentor. _That_ promise was hard on the both of them, and only she acknowledged the reasons for it.

"Let's just start packing our things. We need to be ready for the trip." Tsunade said as she kept her eyes on Naruto. She wished that she could convince him to rescind his promise, but he just did not work like that.

She sighed for what felt like the millionth time that day. 'If only….'

* * *

><p><span>Disclaimer:<span> If I owned Naruto, I would make a fuss about the anime showing Naruto with the wrong colored chakra and Ino with the wrong colored eyes. Naruto has yellow chakra in the manga and Ino has green eyes in the manga.

**2. A Long Awaited Return**

Two days later, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Tonton, and Naruto were walking toward the large gates that were less than a mile in front of them.

The gates seemed smaller to Naruto than normal, but he had not seen the gates of the Hidden Leaf Village since his sixth birthday, so that was to be expected.

"There will be a big commotion." Jiraiya said as he glanced back at Naruto, who was spinning a senbon in his right hand. 'I swear; he's just trying to screw with me now.'

Jiraiya was partially correct about that. Scratch that. He was completely correct about that. Naruto just loved to screw with people, especially those that he did not particularly like. Knowing that the super pervert was his godfather, along with knowing that he had not met the man in his first six years of life, caused Naruto to hold a small amount of dislike for the man. He would never have claimed to hate Jiraiya though.

"I'm sure there will be. There are now more Senju around than Uchiha." Tsunade said blankly. She knew that her words were not completely true though. There were still at least two Uchiha still around, though one apparently went bat shit crazy and killed his clan.

"So Naruto… are you going to become a ninja? I'm sure Tsunade's taught you a thing or two." Jiraiya asked. He noticed Shizune and Tsunade freeze at his words. Even Tonton reacted as if a blizzard engulfed them that second.

"No, I will not. I'm competent in the ninja arts, but I can't become a ninja." Naruto said after a few moments of silence. He softly said, "I won't go back on my word."

Jiraiya heard the last part, but Tsunade shaking her head stopped his questions from coming out.

He did not want to walk in silence though, so he said, "So you're competent, eh? Does that mean you can protect yourself?"

"I'm certainly not incompetent." Naruto said as he crossed his arms. "And why would I have to protect myself? We're going to a freakin' ninja village. I'm sure that I'm perfectly safe."

"Shit happens." Jiraiya said as he shrugged his shoulders. He suddenly stumbled forward as a senbon slammed into his back.

Jiraiya was shocked when he felt that his chakra was behaving erratically. He quickly pulled the senbon out of his back with a small grunt and glared at Naruto.

"That's a chakra disruption poison." Naruto said.

"Do you really want to know how _competent_ my son is?" Tsunade asked with a sigh. "He has basic skills in just about every ninja art, and he can create several hundred poisons from memory. He is immune to a third of those and is resistant to even more poisons than he can make. He's also a very good cook… not that that is in anyway related to poison."

Jiraiya shivered at that thought.

"Relax. Naruto never uses lethal poisons." Shizune said with a smile. The smile lost its depth as she added, "Well… that's usually true, at least. There was that one time that he combined seven different lethal types of poison to take out a bear in the span of a single heartbeat."

'They're either fucking with me or the kid's pretty talented. Maybe both….' Jiraiya thought.

They walked the rest of the way to the gates in silence.

As they reached the gates, they saw the Eternal Chunin, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki.

"Lord Jiraiya, you've returned! We thought it would be at least another month." Izumo exclaimed.

"Is that Lady Tsunade?" Kotetsu asked as he pointed past Jiraiya. "She hasn't aged a day."

"Wow… we have great guards. I mean… look, they've already checked our identification and made sure that we aren't imposters." Naruto said with a sarcastic smile.

"Don't be rude just because you haven't had ramen in the past three months. You're the one who made that bet." Shizune said with a sigh. "I apologize for this rude knucklehead."

"He does have a point though." Izumo said as he cleared his throat. "They clearly aren't imposters though. No one would willingly transform into Lord Jiraiya. They'd be watched by every kunoichi in the village. And if this is the real Lord Jiraiya, then this is obviously the real Lady Tsunade."

"Who is the brat though?" Kotetsu asked.

Naruto grinned and handed over his identification. His grin spread further when Kotetsu saw the name.

"S-Senju?" Kotetsu exclaimed in shock. He then looked at Tsunade. "Then you're his…"

"I'm his mother." Tsunade said with a nod. "Now, let us through. I must meet with the Advisory Council."

Izumo and Kotetsu immediately jumped out of the way at hearing that. They had a feeling that Tsunade was not in the mood to deal with anything right that moment.

As the group passed them, Kotetsu said, "Do you realize what this means, Izumo?"

"What's that?" Izumo asked quietly.

"The Fifth Hokage has been chosen… and the village now has an heir to the Senju clan. That boy is the great grandson of the First Hokage, the great grandnephew of the Second Hokage, the child of one of the Third Hokage's students, the teammate of the Fourth Hokage's sensei, and the son of the Fifth Hokage." Kotetsu said, speaking quietly the entire time.

By the time Jiraiya and the others reached the Administration Building, more than half of the village knew that there was an heir to the Senju clan.

* * *

><p>"We are here for this meeting that you have called." Koharu Utatane said as she sat in the Council Chambers with Homura Mitokado.<p>

Standing before the elderly shinobi, Jiraiya nodded his head. "I present to you, the Fifth Hokage."

Stepping aside, Tsunade entered the room, surprising the advisors greatly. Neither one of them had expected Jiraiya's gambit to work.

"Hello Koharu, Homura." Tsunade said as she entered the room.

"Hello Lady Tsunade." they said in unison. Homura added, "With you here, we can have you ready to formally take the position of Fifth Hokage tomorrow afternoon."

"That's good and all, but we have something that needs to be discussed." Tsunade said, surprising them even further. "I would like to introduce you to my son."

The room became as quiet as death as soon as Tsunade spoke. The thought of Tsunade having a son seemed to overload the minds of the advisors. They only snapped out of it when the sound of footsteps broke the silence.

The advisors felt their jaws drop when they saw the boy standing in the doorway of the room. They recognized the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox instantly.

"You recognize him." Tsunade commented as she smiled at her son. "You see what we have to talk about now, I take it?"

"There's nothing to talk about." Homura said as he regained his footing. "All I see is the perfectly normal son of the legendary Slug Princess."

Tsunade nodded with a smile on her face. "That's good to hear. I hope you don't claim that he is someone else. I wouldn't react kindly if someone were to suggest that he isn't my son."

The two advisors nodded slowly. Trace amounts of fear were clear in both of their eyes.

"You might want to pass that message on to the old hawk too. Avoid going any farther than that though. I'm sure you three are the only ones that _need_ to know." Tsunade said.

'I get the feeling that Tsunade isn't the out of practice gambling drunk that rumor suggests she is.' Homura thought. He had a feeling that Tsunade's skills were just as sharp as they had been when Dan Kato died.

"We understand, Lady Tsunade." Koharu said politely.

"Yes Lady Tsunade, we understand. Out of curiosity, what are the plans of your son and your apprentice? I imagine Shizune is with you." Homura asked cautiously.

"Shizune will be enlisted as a jonin once again, though she will likely spend more time as my assistant or at the hospital than on missions. Naruto, on the other hand, will remain a civilian until he wishes otherwise." Tsunade said.

"Pardon me, Lady Tsunade… but why would your son remain a civilian? Surely he has ninja training…." Homura said, trailing off as he saw a cold look in Tsunade's eyes.

"I have no intention of becoming a shinobi, Honored Advisor." Naruto said, catching the attention of both advisors. "I ask that you respect my desire. While I do have ninja training, I am merely competent."

The elders knew that Naruto was hiding something at that moment, but they knew better than to ask. Koharu did have a question though….

"Are you capable of controlling _it_?"

The room grew cold at that question, but Naruto managed a small smile regardless.

"Honored Advisors, no one but First Lord Hokage and Madara Uchiha can claim to have controlled it completely. I am capable of controlling _it_ an extent though. No one is in danger of it suddenly taking over." Naruto answered. "I ask that you keep in mind that Third Lord Hokage's law is still in effect though. Boldly mentioning _it_ is a death sentence."

'He's sharp. I can't say I'm surprised.' Homura thought. It was clear that the boy was taught more than just the ninja arts. He had a clever mind.

"Ah yes, thank you for informing me." Koharu said as she nodded her head. "I apologize for speaking out of turn."

Naruto nodded absently.

"If your son is to be a civilian, perhaps a squad of ANBU should guard him." Homura commented, looking at Tsunade.

"There is no need for that." Tsunade said calmly. She knew how Naruto would react if they actually tried to have ANBU follow him around as protection. He'd likely hit them each with a full does of salamander poison, for one. "Naruto can protect himself well enough. If anything happens that he cannot handle, he will merely stall until backup arrives."

"Very well… Lady Hokage." Homura said with a nod. Disagreement was clear in his eyes.

"Naruto, ask Shizune to take you to get something to eat. I will be busy for a while, working on technicalities before the inauguration tomorrow."

Understanding that he would be bored if he stayed, Naruto left the room so he could meet up with Shizune.

"Jiraiya, you can leave too. Try not to sneak up on Naruto though." Tsunade said. She smiled as she saw Jiraiya shiver.

'I just got control over my chakra again. I'm not going to tempt Naruto again anytime soon.' Jiraiya thought.

* * *

><p>Naruto entered the Ichiraku Ramen stand fifteen minutes later with Shizune. They had left Tonton at the Administration Building since the pig was actually Tsunade's pet.<p>

Entering the stand, Naruto saw that there two people were sitting at the stand. The first person was a skinny boy that had dark hair shaped like a pineapple. He had a hitai-ite tied around his arm. The second person was a chubby boy with swirl on his cheeks and a bandana style hitai-ite that some of his hair stuck through.

Sitting next to the chubby boy with Shizune taking the seat to his right, Naruto looked at the man behind the counter.

Naruto recognized the man as Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen. He had only been there once before in his life, so he was not surprised that the man did not recognize him.

"Can I get three large bowls of miso ramen with pork fillet?" Naruto asked as he licked his lips.

"Are you sure about that?" Teuchi asked. He had never seen anyone outside of the Akimichi clan eat three large bowls.

"Trust me, Teuchi, he can handle it." Shizune said with a small smile.

"Shizune, is that you?" Teuchi asked in surprise. "I remember you coming to eat here back when you were still an Academy student. And then you left the village with Lady Tsunade." His eyes widened as he put two and two together.

"Lady Tsunade is to be inaugurated as the Fifth Hokage tomorrow. And this is her son, Naruto Senju." Shizune said as she nodded and poked her little brother in the side between two of his ribs.

Four pairs of eyes widened at that revelation, including those of Ayame, who was in the back of the stand at that moment.

"I'll take a small bowl of salt ramen, by the way." Shizune said with a bright smile. She knew that it annoyed Naruto to have everyone know who his mother was, but he would have to get used to it.

"Hi, my name's Choji Akimichi." the chubby boy said from next to Naruto. "The kid on the other side of me is Shikamaru Nara."

"Well met, Choji, Shikamaru." Naruto said with a slight nod of his head. "You two are Leaf ninja, I take it?"

"Yeah, we are. Why do you ask?" Shikamaru asked with a lazy drawl.

"I was just curious." Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Are you going to be a ninja, Naruto?" Choji asked curiously, but he was surprised when he received a shake of Naruto's head in response. "You don't want to become a ninja? Or is it that you don't know how to use ninjutsu?"

Naruto gave a sad smile in response to those questions. "No… you got it all wrong. I'm not bad with ninjutsu or taijutsu, and I don't really dislike the idea of being a ninja. A man should never go back on his word though."

Hearing the blond's words, Choji could not help but feel respect for the boy rise. He liked the idea of someone who never went back on their word, even if they would have been happier otherwise. It showed selflessness, which was a rare commodity, it seemed.

"It looks like I need to head home. What a drag…." Shikamaru said with a yawn. "I'll just hear nothing but nagging if I don't go now. I'll see you later Choji. Good bye." At the last part, he waved to Naruto and Shizune.

"I do believe that we just met Shikaku's boy." Shizune commented, earning a nod from Choji and Teuchi.

"Who is Shikaku?" Naruto asked curiously.

"He's the 'Shika' of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio." Shizune said. She laughed when Naruto perked up at the though. He loved hearing stories of famous shinobi. "He's also the current Jonin Commander of the village. In short, he is Lady Tsunade's right hand man."

"He is?" Naruto asked in surprise. 'I guess that mean he will know what I carry then,' he thought.

"Yes, he is. He's a good man, and he is very intelligent, though he was beaten with a lazy stick at birth, so you'll never meet a man less active than he is… I hope." Shizune said, causing Teuchi to chuckle as he placed the bowls of ramen on the counter.

At that moment, Naruto could not help but be thankful that his three months of no ramen had just ended.

* * *

><p><span>Disclaimer:<span> I do not own Naruto. If I did, Naruto would know the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu at the very least.

**3. The Rookie Nine**

Naruto was sitting on the front porch of his new home on the morning of the first day of September.

The home that he was at was the Senju clan compound, which had come to compose of a single large wooden cabin. To call it a cabin, though, was a grave insult to most architects. It was more of a mansion composed entirely of logs. It was built by the First Hokage back in the early days of the village.

Though the clan had once been the largest, along with the Uchiha clan, in the village, the only building of it that had survived the First Great Shinobi War was the First Hokage's home, which was fireproof, unless the one trying to burn it down had a fully developed Mangekyo Sharingan, at least.

Naruto had heard rumors that the wood of the house was actually capable of repairing itself somehow as well, though he had no idea the validity of such rumors. He was unconcerned by them, to be honest.

Shaking his head, he focused on the more pressing matters. It was the day of his mother's inauguration as Hokage, so he had to attend the little ceremony that was to be hold. By little, they meant that the entire village would attend, of course.

The previous night, his mother had informed him that he was to meet with a collection of some of the strongest genin that the village had ever produced following the inauguration. Apparently, the nine rookie genin that had graduated last time around were being called 'the Rookie Nine' due to their time in the Chunin Exams. They were supposed to be very skilled for their age, despite the fact that only one of them was under consideration for promotion.

"You look conflicted." Shizune said as she sat in the chair next to Naruto. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about?" Naruto asked as he leaned back in his chair. "The so-called Rookie Nine… I would have been in their class if I had stayed."

"What of it?" Shizune asked. She knew that he did not regret leaving the village to live with Tsunade and her.

"I attended a few months of the Academy before you guys took me in. I remember some of the members of this Rookie Nine from my time back then." Naruto said with a sigh. "I'm not for sure if they'll remember me. What if my cover is blown?"

Shizune laughed at that point. "There is no cover. You are Naruto Senju. And you need to stop worrying. Most twelve or thirteen year olds are incapable of remembering things clearly nearly seven years back. And so what if you look similar to someone they knew? You're someone completely different now. You certainly don't act the same, after all."

Naruto could not help but laugh at that as well. Growing up with Tsunade as a mother and Shizune as an older sister had caused him to change dramatically from the little attention seeker than he had been in his youth.

"Then I guess I only have one issue to deal with." Naruto said with a small grin. "I have to meet the last loyal Uchiha today. I'm sure he'll love meeting the heir of the Senju clan."

That earned another laugh from Shizune. She could not argue with him there. Even if the Uchiha clan had been massacred five and a half years earlier, it was highly likely that the young Uchiha survivor was raised with negative feelings towards the Senju clan.

"So Naruto, have you considered…."

"No, I have not." Naruto said, cutting his sister off. "You were there when she offered the deal. She held up her end of the bargain, so I have to hold up mine. As much as I wish otherwise, I agreed to the deal knowing the price."

Shizune sighed. "I know that Naruto. We've been over this before several times. I just think-"

"We've had this very argument many times before. We both know how it's going to end." Naruto said, cutting her off again. "I will keep my word, while you can keep trying to figure out a way that I can become a ninja without breaking it."

Shizune sighed. She knew that the odds of her figuring that out were even slimmer than the odds of Jiraiya getting a date with Tsunade. That was not the first time that he had ended an argument in such a way either. It annoyed her a great deal, though she could not really object to it at the same time.

"Are you two ready?" Tsunade asked a few moments later as he stepped onto the porch behind them. "We need to get there early. I doubt you two want to be at the back of the crowd, even if it would make it easier to get out afterwards."

"It's not like you'd let me leave afterwards anyways." Naruto grumbled.

"Still sore about being made to meet the Rookie Nine after the inauguration, I see." Tsunade remarked with a kind smile. "Naruto, why do you think I want you to meet with them?"

Naruto did not know what to say, so he shrugged his shoulders helplessly, earning a sigh from his mother.

"If you're going to insist of keeping your word about that old deal that we made, then you are simply going to be the heir to the Senju clan, instead of a shinobi. As the heir of the Senju clan, you need to meet certain people… important people. The Rookie Nine is composed of the sole surviving Uchiha, the heir of the Aburame clan, the heir of the Nara clan, the heir of the Akimichi clan, the youngest child of the Inuzuka clan head, the heiress of the Hyuga clan, and the heiress of the Yamanaka clan, along with a kunoichi from a well off merchant family and an orphan. Furthermore, a genin team from the year above them will be there. One of the genin on that team is named Neji Hyuga, and he is apparently the strongest Byakugan wielder since the current clan head." Tsunade explained as Naruto looked back at her from his chair.

"Fine… I understand." Naruto said with a sigh as he got out of his chair. "Are you sure you want me to meet anyone important though? The last important person I met wound up paralyzed."

"Some might argue that the advisors are more important than Jiraiya." Shizune remarked. "You didn't paralyze them."

"I didn't really meet them yesterday though. They remembered me, so it was more like a visit." Naruto said as he shook his head. "But anyways, I maintain that Pervy Sage is important. He supplied the Old Man with all his information on _that_ organization, didn't he?"

"He did." Tsunade confirmed. She could not argue Jiraiya's importance. "In order to prevent you from poisoning anyone important, I'll have to ask you to leave your senbon here."

"That doesn't stop me from using poison." Naruto retorted.

"No, it doesn't." Tsunade agreed. "I highly doubt that you are going to throw your only kunai though."

Nodding reluctantly, Naruto removed the four braces of senbon he kept on him at all times and handed them to Shizune, who secured them in her kimono.

"Now, there is one more thing that we need to discuss before we head to the inauguration." Tsunade said, earning the attention of her son and apprentice.

"What is that?" Shizune asked curiously.

"There is a great deal of mystery behind all three of us. I am the Sannin that turned her back on the village after the tragic deaths of my brother and lover, who only returned to the village once since the Second Great Shinobi War. That was to take you away as my apprentice, of course. And now, I am back, willing to become the Fifth Hokage with no clear reason for doing so." Tsunade said as she looked at Shizune. "As I return, I have the niece of the legendary Dan Kato with me, and everyone knows that I taught her most of what I know about poisons and medical ninjutsu. Furthermore, I have returned with a son that has publically denied the possibility that he will become a ninja of this village. Finally, you have the mystery of what we have been doing in recent years."

"People will be asking us about ourselves and our pasts." Naruto surmised. "And you want us to… stretch the truth a bit." There was no question in his words.

Tsunade nodded. "No one wants to know what actually happened. They want to believe that they already figured it out. So answer insignificant questions if you have to, but deflect any question that you can. And if you can't deflect a big question, lie about it."

"That's very… ninja-like." Naruto commented, earning a sharp nod from his mother. "We can handle it."

"I know you can." Tsunade said with a smile as she left the porch and began to walk through the trail that went through the forest and towards the village. They would come out on top of the Hokage Monument a short while later.

* * *

><p>The inauguration seemed to last forever to Naruto, though it only actually lasted an hour. Afterwards, he and Shizune joined up with Tsunade.<p>

Tsunade carefully guided her son through the large crowd, where people were still talking about having a new Hokage, to the area where she had seen the Rookie Nine and Team Guy standing.

Upon reaching the area where she saw the previously mentioned people, Naruto shuddered involuntarily. Seeing a man clad in green spandex... scratch that… seeing a man and a teenage boy clan in green spandex disturbed Naruto worse than any genjutsu could have.

"Lady Hokage, it is a pleasure to meet you." The speaker was a raven haired beauty with crimson eyes. It was easy to tell that she was a jonin, though she did not wear the customary attire that most jonin wore. "My name is Kurenai Yuhi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Kurenai. I believe you already know Shizune, and this is my son, Naruto." Tsunade said, gesturing towards he apprentice at first and then placing a hand on Naruto's shirt.

"So the rumors are true then. I've been wondering if you really did have a son." A dark haired male jonin commented as he stepped up beside Kurenai. By his appearance, Tsunade was easily able to tell that he was the son of the Third Hokage. She knew that Asuma had been one of the Fire Guardians, which proved his identity due to the sash that he wore.

"Hello Asuma. It's been a while since I last saw you." Tsunade said with a slight nod of her head. "And yes, that particular rumor is true. I am no longer the last member of the Senju clan."

"There's also a rumor that the father is-" Asuma began.

"If you even suggest that Jiraiya is my father, I may have to kill him." Naruto stated calmly.

That seemed to shut Asuma up immediately.

'Lucky bastard… you would have been sent flying if I had not intervened.' Naruto though.

Tsunade smiled as she ruffled Naruto's hair. She then looked at one of the last jonin and sweat dropped. Kakashi Hatake was reading one of Jiraiya's books.

"Yosh! It is great to see you, Lady Hokage! Your flames of youth look particularly bright this day! If I cannot outshine you tomorrow, I will run three thousand laps around the Third Training Ground! If I cannot do that, then I will do five thousand jumping jacks. If I cannot do that-"

"Hmm… did you say something?" Naruto asked with a yawn. "Sorry, I forgot to pay attention."

Guy froze at that point, and pretty much everyone wanted to bust up laughing. It was not often that anyone just so casually stopped Guy in his tracks. The fact that a young boy did it was even more impressive.

"Now, let's start this over a bit." Tsunade said with a sigh. "Naruto, the spiky silver haired jonin is Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Ninja. The dark haired one with the cigarette in his mouth is Asuma Sarutobi, my sensei's son. The raven haired kunoichi is Kurenai Yuhi. And finally, the one with… unique… tastes in clothing is Might Guy."

Naruto's eyes widened at the realization of who each of the jonin were. Kakashi was a famous ninja, as was Asuma. He had heard rumors of Guy and Kurenai too, though.

"So he's the one who killed the Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Naruto asked, looking at Kakashi.

"You know about our mission to the Land of Waves?" a pink haired kunoichi suddenly asked from behind Kakashi.

"Yeah, I heard about it when we were in the Land of Waves a month or two ago." Naruto said, shrugging nonchalantly. Not even Kakashi was able to pick up on the fact that he was lying.

"You're right." Kakashi said with an eye smile. "My team and I killed the Demon of the Hidden Mist. His subordinates were apprehended by ANBU Black Ops. You can guess what happened from there."

"Shame you failed your mission." Naruto said with an innocent expression on his face.

"Like you could have done better?"

Looking at the speaker, Naruto quickly was able to see that it was a thirteen year old Uchiha. "Is this the orphan of Team Seven or the one from the civilian family?" Naruto asked, innocently looking at Kakashi.

Shizune barely stifled a giggle at the furious look on Sasuke's face.

"Actually, he is the last Uchiha, dickless as he is. My name is Sai. How do you do?" a pale boy with black hair said as he appeared next to Sasuke. He had a tanto on his back. If Naruto had to guess, he'd say that the boy was actually older than Sasuke. "My name is Sai, by the way. I'm the orphan you heard about. And the flat chested banshee with pink hair is the one from the civilian family."

"You might want to use a Substitution Jutsu." Naruto whispered. Then more loudly, he said, "That's good to know. I'm Naruto Senju."

A fist suddenly smashed into the back of Sai's head, and he was replaced with a wooden log, causing the pink haired kunoichi to curse in pain.

"As entertaining as this is, let's get the formal introductions out of the way." Kakashi said as he put his book up. "Lady Hokage, this is my team, Team Seven. We have Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Sai- no last name- in this team." As Kakashi named each one, he pointed to them.

"This is my team, Team Eight." Kurenai said curtly as she indicated to a brown haired Inuzuka with clan markings on his cheeks, a short haired Hyuga with a lavender tint to her eyes, and a classic Aburame with sunglasses and a raised collar. "My students are Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame."

"And these are-" Asuma began.

"Yo Choji! How's it been? I haven't seen you since yesterday. Remember the ramen? Yeah, it was great." Naruto said, waving excitingly to the Akimichi that was standing next to Asuma. "Oh, and I almost didn't notice the hereditary slacker. How's it going, Shikamaru?"

"You know them?" Tsunade asked, looking at her son. She was not the only one to speak at that moment though.

"You know him?" Asuma asked, looking at his male students.

"We met at Ichiraku Ramen." Naruto and Choji said in sync.

"Naruto, I wish we could figure out your random bouts of hyperactivity. If we could harness it, we could power the electricity for the entire continent easily." Shizune said, earning a bout of laughter from Tsunade and Naruto.

"Anyways, you were saying something." Naruto said, looking at Asuma.

"Right… this is Team Ten. It's composed of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi." Asuma said.

"Boar?" Naruto asked under his breath.

"What did you just say? Did you call me a whore?" Ino asked, only catching the ending sound of Naruto's muttered question.

"Don't be irrational. He just met you. I'm sure he said 'boar.' Your name does mean boar after all." Shikamaru said with his typical lazy drawl.

'They really are a bunch of immature brats.' Tsunade thought with a small smile. She was glad to see that they were not hardened shinobi yet.

"Guy, please don't rant about youth. Just introduce them to your students." Kurenai said, looking at the final jonin. "Save it for your own students."

The Hyuga and the panda-looking kunoichi next to said jonin cringed at Kurenai's last words.

"Yosh, I shall do that! Lady Hokage, these are the members of the Youthful Team Guy! They are Neji Hyuga, Tenten, and the Youthful Rock Lee!" Guy exclaimed as he gestured to the male Hyuga, the panda-looking kunoichi, and the green spandex clad boy.

"That's nice… do you ever want to jump off Hokage Monument head first?" Naruto asked, looking at the male Hyuga.

"Every day…." Neji said with a sigh. He would never have said something like that before the preliminary round of the Chunin Exams. He had faced Lee in combat, and he had seen that even a dead-last could equal the skill of a genius. It had been a double knock out.

"Naruto, that's an impolite question." Shizune said, chastising her little brother.

"I don't particularly enjoy being polite." Naruto muttered under his breath. Straightening up, Naruto looked up at his mother. "Are we done here yet?"

'I don't think there's any more that can be gained here. Naruto appears to be close to being friends with two of them, and that's enough for now. Plus… I was asked to meet with the Advisory Council and the Clan Heads after this. I don't know why they want me to bring Naruto with me though.' Tsunade thought.

"Excuse us. We have business at the Administration Building." Tsunade said politely. "Shizune, feel free to go back to the estate. We will be joining up with you later."

Naruto could not help but feel a little curious about what was going on. He was not worried though. No… he had nothing to fear with his mother, Tsunade of the Sannin, there to help him.

* * *

><p><span>Disclaimer:<span> I do not own Naruto. If I did, Jiraiya would have opened a can of whoop ass and killed Pain.

**4. Interesting Meetings**

Naruto and Tsunade were sitting in the Council Chambers less than an hour after the inauguration ceremony. At that moment, there were sitting at a very large table along with the two advisors and the heads of the six most prestigious clans of the village.

Since the room was so plain, lacking any decoration whatsoever, Naruto glanced at the various shinobi in the room.

Naruto was sitting to Tsunade's right, so his eyes went to the person closest to him on his right.

That was Tsume, the current head of the Inuzuka clan. From what Naruto knew of that clan, anyone could become the clan head, provided that they had the desire and strength to do so. Though Tsume was merely a Special Jonin, Naruto had no doubts that she was one of the strongest kunoichi he had ever met.

The person to her right was Shibi Aburame. Naruto did not know much about the bug using clan, though that was only because he did not find them all that interesting.

He considered the tales of their exploits to be… well, boring. They were worse than puppeteers. At least puppeteers had to actually do something in a fight. Aburame just sat back and let their bugs do all the work. Still, the head of the clan was supposed to be very skilled, despite not possessing the nano-sized venomous insects that the previous clan head was said to be in possession of.

That was likely the only interesting thing about the clan. They elected their clan heads; it was not a hereditary position by any means. Even though the Inuzuka clan was not exactly hereditary, it was common for a single line to remain in control for several generations.

The person to Shibi's right was the honorable Hiashi Hyuga. He nearly snorted at the thought of addressing the Hyuga clan head as such. He refused to say that anyone who enslaved over half of their family was honorable. That was how the Hyuga clan worked though.

To Shibi's right were the Hokage's advisors, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado. They needed no mental introductions to Naruto. He had met them a few times more than he liked.

To the right of the advisors, Inoichi Yamanaka was sitting. He was the head of the Yamanaka clan, of course. It was because of that man that Naruto had sealed away seventy-five percent of his chakra before arriving in the village. It hid the Nine-Tails' chakra, which was easy for any sensor to see otherwise.

To the right of him, Shikaku Nara sat lazily. Naruto had to agree that the man appeared capable of doing anything lazily, even breathing. Still, Naruto remembered that he was supposedly the Jonin Commander and a jonin of the elite level, just like Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi.

Speaking of Choza… he was sitting next to Shikaku. There was just something about that man that Naruto liked. He could see the large man was kind just by the expression on his face.

"Would someone like to tell me what this is about?" Tsunade asked, looking over the six clan heads and two advisors. "And why did you wish for my son to be present for this?"

"Lady Hokage, there are several reasons for the request of this meeting. The first of these has to do with your son's public refusal to become a shinobi of this village. We were wondering why." Homura said, breaking the ice.

"I can't say I'm surprised by this inquiry." Tsunade said, glancing at Naruto. "Would you like to explain your reasons to them?"

By the look he was being given, Naruto had the feeling that answering with a 'no' would have only gotten him in trouble. So, he cleared his throat and said, "Honored Clan Heads and Advisors, and the not so honored ones…" That earned light chuckling and a few glares. "My reason for refusing to become a ninja is quite simple. I made a deal nearly four years ago. To receive what I wanted most in the world, all I had to do was promise never to become a ninja. I gave my word that I would never become a ninja if I received what I wanted. She fulfilled her end of the bargain, so I have to fulfill mine. And don't even suggest that I could refuse to do so. I'm Naruto Senju, and I never go back on my word."

"What did you gain in return for such a promise?" Inoichi asked curiously.

"That is none of your business, esteemed Yamanaka Clan Head." Naruto said with a smile that only served to annoy the Yamanaka further.

"The deal will remain between Naruto and me, so don't bother asking him about it." Tsunade said, surprising most of the people present. "All I will say is that I was the one who he made the promise to."

That really got several heads spinning.

'Could it be that she did not want her son to become a ninja because of Nawaki Senju and Dan Kato's deaths?' Shikaku thought. He could understand why she required such a promise of him if that was the case.

'It looks like we have to move on to plan B.' Homura thought as he glanced to Koharu.

"I would like to propose something then, if your son wishes to remain a civilian." Koharu said as she removed a scroll from her lap. "As unfortunate as the thought of something happening to you or your son is, I came up with a proposal that would help ensure that the village remains strong no matter what." She slid the scroll to Tsunade as soon as she finished speaking.

Sensing no threat in the old woman's words, Tsunade unrolled the scroll and read it. Once she finished reading it, she slid the scroll over to Naruto and looked at everyone around the table.

"Does everyone present know what this 'proposal' is?" Tsunade asked calmly.

"Yes Lady Hokage, we do. Lady Koharu told us about this proposed Clan Restoration Act." Inoichi replied. From the looks on his face, along with those on Choza's and Shikaku's, it was clear that it was not exactly looked favorably upon.

"Think of the benefits. It would bring back the Senju clan." Homura said, trying to stress the primary benefit.

Naruto busted up laughing at that point, making quite a few people nervous.

"I'd like to see you try to enforce this garbage." Naruto said, coming to an abrupt stop. His eyes were colder than ice at that moment. "You are aware that as a civilian, I am considered a child until I reach the age of twenty, correct?"

"Yes, we are aware of that. An arranged marriage could take place at the age of sixteen for a civilian though." Koharu said, smirking satisfactorily.

"You're an idiot." Naruto said, stopping her in her tracks. "As a minor, any documents that I sign aren't legal without my sole parent's signature. Even if she did sign it- which I don't even believe is in the realm of possibilities- you'd have a hell of a time fulfilling this. I might be a civilian, but I'm the heir to the Senju clan. That means that the laws for how a marriage is arranged between shinobi would have to be followed. Would anyone care to guess how someone would go about actually arranging a marriage with me when my guardian does not like the girl in question?"

"I'll bite. Why wouldn't she like the girl in question?" Inoichi asked, knowing that Koharu was going to react negatively if allowed to talk.

"I'm her only son. Why would she like someone who is going to take me away from her?" Naruto asked with a grin.

"I wouldn't." Tsunade said, agreeing with her son.

"Oh… I understand." Shibi said all of the sudden. "That's an old tradition, but it is still the only way to legally force an arranged marriage when one suitor's parents are against it."

"What are you talking about?" Tsume asked curiously. She had actually been interested in tying her clan to the Senju clan. It would have been an honor, after all.

"I can't remember the exact phrasing, but the only way to force an arranged marriage that Lady Tsunade is opposed to is by having the intended suitor fight for the right to marry the Senju heir. The tradition was intended for males seeking the hand of a female whose parents objected to the idea, so it would have to be reversed for a female seeking to be married to the Senju heir." Shikaku said. "In other words, Naruto just said that the only way for an arranged marriage to be forced with Tsunade opposed to it is by having the female that wants to marry him… well, the girl would have to fight and defeat Tsunade."

Koharu paled as her plans failed. But she still had an idea.

"Wait a minute. That is an actual law, and it specifically states your father." Koharu said.

"Don't quote it unless you remember the entire thing, you old bat." Tsunade snapped. "In the case of the father being dead, as Naruto's father is, then the duty falls to the closest male relative. That would be his godfather… Jiraiya."

Koharu knew that her plans had failed completely at that point. She had been beaten, and even she knew it.

"It's impressive that you know the village law so well, but all of that was a moot point. Your mother is obviously going to reject the Clan Restoration Act, along with any future proposals of a similar nature." Shikaku said. "Is there anything else to discuss? I have other things to do today… I think."

"Yes, we have a few things to discuss. Naruto, you may take your leave." Tsunade said, taking control of the meeting. "It won't last long though, so relax Shikaku."

Before Tsunade even finished saying the last part, Naruto was gone.

"Now, I want to make one thing clear. You need to stay away from my son. If you try to force the issue of his status or try to convince him to go along with some arranged marriage, then you will learn firsthand why I was able to survive a fight with Hanzo of the Salamander. And trust me when I say that I am not out of practice." Tsunade said with cold fury clear in her eyes. "If you want to discuss my son, you can come to me, but do so only at your own risk."

* * *

><p>Naruto was walking home as Tsunade finished with the Advisory Council and the Clan Heads. He was not surprised at all when Sasuke Uchiha stepped in his way with his Sharingan activated.<p>

"Fight me." Sasuke said. "As the last Uchiha, I must defeat you."

Naruto wanted to laugh in response, so he did… while shaking his head. "I'm not wasting my time on you. I'm a civilian, in case you haven't heard."

"You're obviously a ninja, even if you don't wear a forehead protector." Sasuke said, not dissuaded in the least.

"I gain nothing from fighting you." Naruto said, though anger could be seen in his eyes.

"You _gain_ nothing?" Sasuke asked, clearly confused.

"That's right, dickless. I gain nothing from fighting you. That could be changed though. Make it a bet, and I'll kick your ass all day." Naruto said with a grin. He had inherited his mother's hobby of gambling.

"I bet you five hundred ryo I can defeat you." Sasuke said, trying to figure out the best way to go about it.

"You suck at bets. Okay, so you're the last Uchiha… I have an idea. I bet you five thousand ryo that I can kick your ass without any ninjutsu or genjutsu. You're free to spam your techniques all you want." Naruto said with a grin. His grin did not even falter when he remembered that he had yet to get his senbon back from Shizune.

"Alright, I'm in." Sasuke said. Five thousand ryo was less than the price of a D-rank mission, so he was sure that he could manage it. The Uchiha clan had been rich, after all.

All of the sudden, Sasuke was sent flying backwards.

'Shit! My Sharingan barely registered his movement.' Sasuke thought as he saw Naruto standing where he had been seconds earlier with his fist extended.

"As I always tell people… I am competent. No one likes it when I brag, after all." Naruto said with a grin as a kunai appeared in his right hand from a seal that drawn on his palm. The blade was covered in poison. "Don't be a dumbass… specify where we fight next time. You can't use your fire jutsu in the street unless you want to be arrested, after all."

'This guy… who in the hell is he?' Sasuke thought. He registered movement immediately after that thought passed and he was unable to react before Naruto appeared in front of him and placed the kunai to his throat.

"If I make a single cut, you will die. I always coat my kunai with a very special poison. You would have sixty heartbeats to speak your last words if I cut you on the arm. If I stabbed you, you would have less than that… maybe five, give or take three." Naruto said, leaking killing intent that shocked Sasuke. "You pissed me off, Uchiha. Don't imply that I went back on my word, or I will kill you. Oh, and I win."

As Naruto said the last part, he spun around and physically kicked the Uchiha's ass.

"Kicking your ass was the only way to win. Surely you remember that." Naruto said with an impassive look. Simmering anger could still be seen in his eyes. "Don't forget that you own my five thousand ryo. I expect payment by the end of the week. Have a nice day."

With that, Naruto sealed the kunai back in the hand drawn storage seal and walked back towards his house, whistling a happy tune.

Naruto was oblivious to the Uchiha's mental declarations of getting stronger as he walked. He was just glad that Sasuke had failed to realize that he had cheated. He was fast, but he had been forced to use the Body Flicker Technique in conjunction with his own speed to beat Sasuke so soundly. He had never sparred or fought against a Sharingan user, so he had used every advantage that he could.

In the back of his mind, Naruto thought about the fact that cheating was very ninja-like. He refused to acknowledge the fact that he had acted as a ninja would though.

* * *

><p><span>Disclaimer:<span> I do not- Fuck it. I'm going to stop doing this. If you haven't realized that I don't own Naruto yet, I feel sorry for those around you.

**5. Free Time**

Three days later, Naruto was sitting in his bedroom at his desk, which was littered with scrolls and inkwells. The walls of the room were covered with shelves that had labeled bottles on them.

Inside that single room, there was enough poison to incapacitate every member of the six most prominent clans of the village. Not that Naruto ever thought about that though… no, he never thought about poisoning anyone.

Naruto knew that there were two hundred twenty-seven different poisons on the shelves in his bedroom. None of the poisons were lethal, and about twenty of the poisons were naturally occurring. He mixed the remained of the poisons.

And yes, Naruto did have lethal poisons in the room. They were sealed inside storage scrolls in hidden compartments under his bed though.

At that moment, Naruto was working on a synthetic poison capable of paralyzing the user _and_ imitating a genjutsu. In short, it would prevent the user from moving at all, and it would cause them to see the worst things that their minds could imagine.

If he could figure out how to complete the poison, he would be able to change the ingredients a small amount to create similar poisons capable of producing different types of hallucinations while maintaining the paralysis.

Naruto's reasons for creating new poisons were not based on any desire to actually use them against anyone.

He was mainly interested in making himself resistant and immune to even more poisons than he already was. It was an additional benefit that he was able to create the antidotes to all of the poisons so that he could cure the poisons if anyone else happened to create them.

Since coming back to the Hidden Leaf Village, one final benefit had come across. His mother, acting as the Hokage, had begun to pay him for every poison and antidote that he had created.

It was unspoken but acknowledged that Naruto was as skilled as Shizune with poisons, though he lacked the ability to use medical ninjutsu. That deficiency actually forced Naruto to work harder to mix the poisons and deal with them in medical treatment. After all, there were certain poisons that he was pretty much incapable of dealing with at all. Those were heavy metal poisons, of course. Heavy metal poisons were impossible to become immune to, and Naruto had yet to discover a way to become resistant to them.

"Naruto, are you going to spend all day working on poisons again?" Shizune asked as she pushed the door open. "Aren't you rich enough without constantly inventing new poisons?"

Naruto grinned at that question. The truth of the matter was that he had more money than anyone else in his family. He did not inherit his mother's horrible luck at gambling. In fact, he had extraordinary luck. Thus, he had ten million ryo in the bank in case he needed it. It was not enough to have him set for life, but he could go a few years without a job of any kind if he needed it. Of course, he would not need it until he was considered an adult anyway. Tsunade paid for anything he needed, after all.

"Stop daydreaming." Shizune said with a sigh. "Lady Tsunade gave me specific instructions today. She wants you to spend some time around the Rookie Nine and Team Guy today. She doesn't care who you actually spend time with, but she doesn't want you to continue to just stay in your room so much."

Naruto groaned at that. "But I'm really close."

"You're a twelve year old boy. You should be playing with friends, not inventing poisons that can are capable of replicating genjutsu. You're not even a ninja, so you can't use training as an excuse." Shizune said. Her voice was firm, and he was able to clearly see that she would not budge on that topic.

"Fine, I'll go see Choji. Anyways, I did have someone come over yesterday. You can't argue about that." Naruto said, thinking about the bet that he had won a few days earlier.

"Sasuke Uchiha isn't your friend, and he only came because he still thinks you won your bet with him. We both know you aren't fast enough to beat a Sharingan user with only taijutsu." Shizune said. She did not seem upset about him cheating though.

Shizune really did not care about Naruto's cheating, in all actuality. It was not just Naruto's imagination. The fact of the matter was that Naruto cheated when he wanted to speed a certain end result up. The fact that he cheated against Sasuke meant that he could have won without doing so.

"I'm sure even his teammate… I think his name's Sai… knows more about friends than the Uchiha. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed his… peculiar… attitude." Naruto said.

Shizune nodded with a sigh. She had quickly learned how to detect false emotions from her time with Naruto growing up. Therefore, she could spot an emotional mask from a mile away. It was clear to her that the pale boy was not normal. She actually suspected that he was a plant from the secret Foundation division of ANBU Black Ops that was headed by Danzo Shimura.

"Anyways, I'll go and see Team Ten. I'm not going to see Team Seven though, and I'd rather commit harakiri then spend time with Team Guy." Naruto said with a shudder.

Shizune rolled her eyes at Naruto's dramatics. Only he would suggest that harakiri- another term for seppuku or suicide- was preferable than spending time with three teenagers. Actually, she took that back. Spending time with Guy might have warranted such a dramatic action. He seemed more eccentric than he had been when they were in the Academy.

"Have fun. Try not to poison anyone… and try not to beat anyone up either. You should try to make a good impression." Shizune said.

"I've already made my first impression though. Choji's kunoichi teammate probably hates me already. She still thinks I called her a whore." Naruto said with a chuckle, causing his sister to shake her head.

"Be that as it may…." Shizune said, trailing off. She knew that he understood her meaning. "Oh, and are you adjusting to the lack of chakra?"

Naruto nodded grimly. "I still have as much chakra as a low level jonin. I can control it a lot better too. I'll be in a bind if I have to release the seal though."

Shizune nodded in understanding. A sudden increase of chakra would certainly shoot his control for a while. "Lady Tsunade did not explain how your sealed chakra prevents anyone from sensing your second chakra. How does it work, exactly?"

"I sealed my chakra around the seal that the fox is held back by." Naruto said, surprising her. "My own chakra smothers the fox's. I'd have to actually access its chakra in order for someone to sense it while three quarters of my chakra is sealed away."

"Did you come up with that?" Shizune asked, impressed by the concept.

"I came up with the idea, but Mom helped me figure out how to do it. It's actually the reason that the barrier around the village did not recognize me when we got here. Mom's already removed my chakra signature from the barrier's detection system though, so I won't have any problems when I unseal my chakra." Naruto explained.

Naruto was well aware of the fact that the Third Hokage had registered his chakra signature before he could even walk to prevent him from accidentally wandering out of the village. That was one reason, at least. Tsunade had removed that entry from the barrier's detection system so that no one would realize who he actually was.

"I'm heading out now. I'll see you later." Naruto said before rolling the scroll he had been working on up. He then walked past his sister and left the Senju clan compound.

* * *

><p>"Hey guys, how's it going?" Naruto asked as he jumped from the top of a house and landed in front of Team Ten. He inwardly sighed as he saw the angry look on Ino's face. He had not intended on making her hate him.<p>

"Hey Naruto, we're good." Shikamaru said. It was at this point that Naruto noticed that he was wearing a flak jacket. "We're headed to go celebrate my promotion, I guess. It'll be a drag, but do you want to come?"

"Lead the way." Naruto said with a grin. He found it interesting that he had been the one to be promoted to Chunin. From what he remembered of what his mother said, only one member of the Rookie Nine was under consideration for promotion.

Nodding, Shikamaru began to walk forward with his hands in his pockets.

"Why does he have to come along? All he's good for is insulting people." Ino huffed, annoyed at the thought of spending time with the young Senju.

"I'm also good for poisoning people." Naruto suggested helpfully.

Ino put a little extra space between them the instant she heard those words.

"So Naruto, what have you been up to?" Choji asked, trying to ease the tension caused by Naruto and Ino.

"Oh, I've just been hanging around the house working on a few projects. I've only managed to invent one new kind of poison since we came to the village." Naruto said with a sigh.

"You actually invent poisons?" Choji asked, clearly surprised.

"It's a bit complicated, but that's the gist of it. Some of the poisons are merely recreations of ones used by foreign shinobi. The village has started paying me for every recreation and new poison, along with the antidotes for each kind." Naruto said with a thoughtful smile. That was his contribution to healing. He had failed horribly at the medical ninjutsu training that Tsunade had put him through. He had been left with knowledge of how to perform first-aid only, and that was only done the old-fashioned way.

"You're even creepier than I thought." Ino said, shivering.

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a pinprick at the back of her neck.

"Avoid calling someone creepy when they carry poison covered senbon at all times. The one at the back of your neck isn't poisoned though. I wouldn't senselessly embarrass a kunoichi of this village." Naruto said before he removed the senbon and slid it back in the brace that was hidden in his right sleeve.

'I didn't even register his movement. That's incredible.' Ino thought.

"How would you embarrass her?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

"The poison that I use most is salamander poison. My preferred kind of salamander poison paralyzes the target. If they are walking forward when they are struck with a poison covered senbon, they will either fall to their knees or completely to the ground. It would take five minutes for her to recover from the poison of a single needle." Naruto explained. 'And I have one hundred needles on my person at this moment.' he mentally added.

"I'd be afraid I'd poke myself with it." Choji said, shaking his head. "I don't know many people that use senbon either, now that I think about it."

"Senbon are throwing needles. Cover them in poison, and they are just as effective as a poison filled syringe." Naruto said. He then brought out a senbon with poison covering one point of it. He proceeded to stick the senbon into his arm, surprising them all.

Removing the senbon and wiping the blood away, Naruto laughed.

"I used to poke myself with my senbon every time I used them, so I only coat them with poison that I'm immune to." Naruto said, shocking the two genin and the chunin. Putting the senbon back up, Naruto was thankful that his arm was hidden under the sleeve of his kimono. Shikamaru would have noticed that his arm stopped bleeding immediately otherwise.

"How exactly do you become immune to poisons?" Ino asked. She only knew of one way, but she did not think-

"I introduced small amounts of various poisons to my body from time to time. Mom did not approve of it, but I did it anyway. It has proved to be beneficial." Naruto said, giving the answer that Ino had not expected Naruto to verify. In truth, Tsunade had not disapproved of him introducing the small amounts of poison in such a way. She had disapproved of him doing it enough to provide immunity to the poisons. He had been expected to gain resistance to every poison that he worked with, after all.

"So where are we going?" Naruto asked, changing the subject. Talking about poison unnerved most people.

"We're going to a barbeque restaurant called Yakiniku Q. It's the restaurant our team frequents the most." Shikamaru answered, glancing back. "I think Choji invited Team Seven and Team Eight to eat with us also, but Team Seven never shows up."

Naruto seemed to relax at hearing that, though Ino seemed partially depressed at the prospect of Sasuke not showing up.

'I have to agree with Shizune.' Naruto thought with a mental chuckle. 'Most twelve year old boys don't spend their days inventing poisons or hanging out with ninja. I never wanted to be normal though. That's what led to all of this.'

"Naruto, what's up with your chakra?" Ino said, suddenly catching everyone's attention. "I've never seen anyone with such dense chakra."

"Oh, you must be a sensor. That makes sense since your entire clan appears to have that type of ability." Naruto said thoughtfully. "And don't look too much into it. My chakra is simply vast and strong. I'm sure you figured out that I'm trained in the ninja arts, after all."

Ino nodded reluctantly. She had been able to sense that he knew how to use his chakra using the chakra sensing abilities that her father had taught her to use. In addition to that, she had heard rumors of him fighting Sasuke and winning effortlessly.

"Stop interrogating him about his chakra." Shikamaru said, actually managing to look focused, if only briefly. "Don't forget that his mother is our boss."

The way that Ino winced seemed to indicate that she had not taken that into consideration.

"Here we are." Choji said a few minutes later as they arrived at the restaurant. They could see that Team Eight was already inside.

* * *

><p><strong><span>6. Nightmares<span>**

_Those cold, lifeless eyes stared up at him, freezing him in place._

"_No!" Naruto called out through a hoarse voice. "Please… you can't die! I can't lose you!"_

_He received no response as his best friend laid on the ground before him facing the sky._

_Looking at the man that held the katana in his right hand, Naruto's felt hatred fill him. He was not sure who he was supposed to hate at that moment. Himself for allowing her to die when he had the power to stop it… or the man in front of him for killing his friend._

_One thing was certain though._

_With crimson, slit-shaped eyes, Naruto roared, "I'm going to kill you."_

_Crimson chakra engulfed him as soon as the works were spoken, and two tails of the foul chakra formed behind him._

Naruto sat up in a cold sweat as he awoke from the nightmare. His breathing was heavy as if he had just run ten miles without slowing down at all.

'It's been nearly six months since I've had that nightmare.' Naruto thought bitterly. A mere nightmare would have been tolerable for him, but that was not a simple nightmare. Memories make the worst nightmares, after all.

Naruto glanced at the alarm clock in his room and saw that it was four in the morning.

Switching off the alarm, he quickly got dressed in one of his less formal outfits, one that consisted of black pants and a sleeveless black shirt. He slipped black wrist bands on with it. The wrist bands had crimson seals on the underside of them. He had made the seals for the jutsu known as 'Summoning: Lightning Blade Creation.'

Opening the door to leave his room, Naruto was stopped by a voice.

"You had the nightmare again."

He finished opening his door and saw his mother was leaning against the wall opposite of his room with her arms crossed.

"Yeah… I did." Naruto said, looking away.

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to get there in time to save her." Tsunade said softly. "I know how much she meant to you."

"You don't need to apologize, Mom. It was my fault. We both know what would have happened if I had actually acted before he killed her." Naruto said with a dark look in his eyes.

"You shouldn't have had to act at all. You were only ten. No one should be forced into such a scenario when they're that young. You shouldn't have been forced to kill. That's not something a _civilian_ should even have to do. I'm your mother. It was my responsibility." Tsunade said. Her voice never went above a whisper as she spoke.

"I… I need some air. I'll probably get some training in too." Naruto said, keeping his eyes away from his mother. "I'll probably be at one of the training grounds in the forest around the village. If the barrier detects that I leave the village, don't panic."

Without waiting for a response, Naruto left as quickly as he could.

'He's never been able to come to terms with her death.' Tsunade thought sadly. She understood the resentment that he felt towards himself. If he had been willing to go back on his word, then she would have survived.

* * *

><p>An hour later, Naruto was standing in the center of a small training field just outside of the village.<p>

Looking at the seal on his right wrist, he took a deep breath. He closed his eyes as he touched a single finger to the seal.

In an instant, Naruto was standing in complete darkness with various objects floating in the area around him.

'I guess I have more than I thought within this seal.' Naruto mused. His eyes appeared to be open, but they were not. He was in a world between worlds at that moment. In a way, he was inside the seal. It was how shinobi could pick what item they used from a seal that could contain a thousand different weapons.

"I guess I'll go with my normal kunai scroll." Naruto said. Suddenly, the only object that he could see was a small scroll. He woke to the real world the instant he reached for it.

In the space of a fraction of a second, Naruto had touched the seal and a small scroll appeared in his left hand.

Naruto quickly unfastened the scroll and dropped it to the ground. As it hit, it bounced and unrolled. He proceeded to slam his hands down onto the scroll, and twenty braces of kunai appeared on the parchment of the scroll. Ten braces- each containing five kunai- laid to the left of his left hand and the right of his right hand.

'I haven't been training much lately.' He thought as he began to fasten the braces on. He ended up with six braces around his waist, one brace on each though, one brace at each knee, one brace at each shin, one brace at each ankle, one brace at each upper arm, one brace at each forearm, and one brace at the back of each shoulder.

The way that he attached the braces would have been severely impractical in real combat, but it helped him adjust to removing a kunai from anywhere on his body and throwing it.

All that he had left to do was go and set up the targets, and he could begin his training session.

* * *

><p>Naruto did not stop training until ten o'clock that night. It took him about two hours to actually put up all the weapons that had littered the training field.<p>

That was what led him to walking through the gates of the village and seeing a pink haired kunoichi lying on a bench. Approaching her carefully, he placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her.

She slowly stirred away, and he opened her eyes, seeing a blond boy. She quickly recognized him as the son of Tsunade, who she met about four weeks earlier.

"Are you okay? You're sleeping outside." Naruto asked, clearly concerned. He knew shinobi were eccentric, but no genin should have been asleep outside, especially on a bench near the village gates.

"Sasuke… he left the village. I tried to stop him, but he knocked me out." Sakura said quietly, tears threatening to escape her eyes.

"Hang on. This might get a little rough." Naruto said as he scooped Sakura into his arms, surprising her. He was shorter than her, but he picked her up as if she was as light as a feather. And then, they disappeared.

It took Naruto a total of ten uses of the Body Flicker Technique to appear on the roof of the Administration Building. When he appeared with Sakura, Tsunade was already standing there.

"Naruto, what is it?" Tsunade asked, worried about her son. He wasted far more chakra than necessary in the use of his jutsu, which had actually made the sensor types among her ANBU guard warn her that someone was headed there.

"Tell her." Naruto said, setting Sakura on her feet.

"Lady Hokage… Sasuke's left the village." Sakura said quietly, tears evident in her eyes.

"Naruto, go get something to eat and get some rest. This is a matter for ninja to discuss." Tsunade said.

Though he was clearly unhappy about the dismissal, Naruto disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Now… tell me everything that happened in detail." Tsunade said. Her mind was already at work, trying to form plans.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up at eight o'clock the next morning.<p>

"Good… you're finally awake." Tsunade said, seeing her son's eyes open.

"Mom, what's going on?" Naruto asked.

"Two hours ago, a team left to bring Sasuke Uchiha back. It was composed of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee and Sai." Tsunade said. She saw Naruto stiffen at the mention of two of his friends. "Jiraiya sent me a message through a toad shortly after they left. Apparently, he learned that Orochimaru intended on sending his four bodyguards to bring Sasuke Uchiha to him."

"They can't succeed on their own." Naruto said, understanding the hidden message.

"That is correct." Tsunade said grimly. "I can't spare any jonin, but a team of two chunin and two genin should be leaving now to aid them. Those are Izumo, Kotetsu, Tenten, and Shino. I'm sure you remember them."

"Then why are you telling me about this?" Naruto asked, looking for an answer in his mother's eyes.

"Don't repeat your past actions. We both know that three chunin and eight chunin are not going to do much good against no less than four shinobi that Orochimaru values enough to use as bodyguards. Given that Sasuke left voluntarily, I believe that the odds are stacked even further against them." Tsunade said in a voice that showed that she was not playing around at all. "The last time you tried to keep that damned promise, your best friend was killed. As you said, 'We both know what would have happened if I had actually acted before he killed her.'"

Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered saying the last line word for word the morning before.

"Have you ever asked yourself the most important question?" Tsunade asked, causing him to look incredibly confused. "What is a ninja?"

With that, she rose to her feet and left the room. She had to get ready for the shinobi that would be injured during their mission to retrieve the Uchiha.

* * *

><p>Choji Akimichi fell to one knee as he was being relentlessly beaten by the one that called himself Jirobo. He had activated the Second Stage of the Cursed Mark, and Choji could not manage to hold his own. He had given his word to his father that he would not take the final Akimichi pill, which was the reason that he was losing. He refused to go back on his word though. Naruto had struck a chord within him on that subject.<p>

"Need help?" Kotetsu Hagane asked as he landed next to Choji with a large purple mace in his hands.

"Yeah… thanks." Choji said with a weak smile. "Did Lazy Hokage send back-up?"

"Yeah, she heard you guys would be fighting some toughies." Kotetsu said as he prepared himself.

"You fools don't think you'll stand a chance at defeating me, do you?" Jirobo asked mockingly. "I'll crush both of you, and then I'll go after your dumbass little friends."

The next thing they knew, Jirobo was forced to duck as a blade cleaved where his head had been.

Standing behind the ducking Sound ninja was Izumo Kamizuki. He was holding a large bladed weapon that looked like a kunai, but it had a slight curve to it and was as large as a sword.

"I guess that didn't work." Izumo said as he quickly jumped back before Jirobo could attack him.

"Wait; there are two chunin to help me?" Choji asked in shock.

"We need to take this prick out in a hurry so we can help assist with the next one. We always work in pairs." Kotetsu said as he charged with his mace.

* * *

><p>A barrage of kunai forced Kidomaru to jump back just before he could shut one of his web-made arrows at Neji Hyuga.<p>

"I didn't expect to see you here, Tenten." Neji said, thankful for the intervention. The kunoichi was the one most suited to working with him due to the fact that she was on his team, after all.

"Lady Hokage sent some reinforcements. If we can't take this guy out, we need to stall." Tenten said. "Two chunin- Kotetsu and Izumo were their names- went to assist the first member of your team. I think they said his name was Choji."

Neji nodded absently. "That's good to hear. This guy is pretty tough. He'd be easier to defeat if I had finished my ultimate defense. I should have pushed myself."

"We don't have time to groan about it. This guy isn't going to sit around and let us talk, after all." Tenten said as she removed two scrolls. "Let's see how he likes my Twin Rising Dragons."

* * *

><p>"What in the hell is going on?" Sakon cursed under his breath as a swarm of insects tried to swallow him whole.<p>

Kiba Inuzuka sighed in relief and glanced at Ukon, who was still blinded by Akamaru's piss.

It was official. Dynamic Marking was the greatest jutsu ever.

It was not the time for that though.

"Do you need some help?" Shino Aburame asked as he appeared next to Kiba.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate some help." Kiba said, nodding in agreement.

Closing his eyes, Shino began to send out all of his insects after the Sound ninja.

Needless to say, they were screwed. Royally.

* * *

><p>Shikamaru Nara was mentally cursing as he tried to deal with his opponent's demonic looking summonings. It was even worse that she apparently had genjutsu and was strong enough to break out of his Shadow Possession Jutsu.<p>

"Do you need some help as well?" Shino Aburame asked as he and Kiba appeared.

"Weren't you just-" Shikamaru began.

"My colony devoured their chakra. They are not a problem any further." Shino said, adjusting his glasses.

"This girl's tricky. I'll come up with a strategy, just keep her off of me." Shikamaru said, taking a deep breath. Things no longer looked so dire, though his opponent looked incredibly annoyed with them at that moment.

"Where are Sai and Lee?" Kiba suddenly asked.

"A fifth opponent showed up. He took Sasuke away from here." Shikamaru quickly explained. "Sai and Lee went after him. Even this girl seemed scared of him."

Shino nodded grimly. 'Hopefully the back-up plan works then. Those creatures appear to be rather tricky.'

"It looks like I have an audience eager to hear my Melody of Death." Tayuya said as she began to play her flute, causing her Doki to attack.

The three genin braced themselves for the fight that was coming.

* * *

><p><strong><span>7. Revelations: The Promise<span>**

Rock Lee knew that he was in trouble, even before that moment.

His opponent could control the density of his bones, among other things. His ability to grow bones with a thought resulted in Lee's taijutsu being ineffective. In essence, Lee had no chance at all in winning. He may have stood a chance with the use of the first five inner gates- the only ones that he could open- but it was too much of a risk.

As the sword-like bone came down towards his face, Lee regretted not opening the gates.

And then the sound of metal against bone snapped Lee out of his thoughts.

Lee felt a foot slam into his chest, sending him flying back, and out of harm's way.

Away from the fight, Lee took note of the person who intervened. He had spiky blond hair and wore the typical attire of a Leaf ninja. No forehead protector or flak jacket was worn by the boy. Yes, it was clearly a boy. He was even shorter than Lee.

'That is Naruto Senju!' Lee thought in shock as the blond held Kimimaro's bone sword back with a tanto, which snapped the second the thought passed.

The snapped half of the tanto came down and sliced the bone user's face before Naruto jumped back.

"Naruto… why are you here?" Lee asked, trying not to sound ungrateful.

Naruto casually tossed the broken tanto to the side and glanced at Lee. "I decided to face the ghosts of my past."

"What do you mean?" Lee asked, intrigued. He knew that he should have been focusing on the bone user, but he found that Naruto was far too captivating for that to happen.

"You heard that I refused to be a ninja, right?" Naruto asked, keeping his eyes focused on Kimimaro. "Well, the reason for that is because I made an oath to never be a ninja if my mother trained me in the ninja arts. I imagine that sounds contradictory, but it's the truth."

That really did catch Lee off guard.

"I made that oath when I was nine, but then _that_ happened when I was ten." Naruto said, anger filling his eyes and posture. "I tried to be as far from a ninja as I could while still possessing the skills of a ninja. It was because of this that my best friend died."

Naruto noticed that Lee and Kimimaro were both staying completely still.

The latter actually wanted to hear the story for some reason before he killed the blond.

"A simple genin level rogue ninja confronted us when we were playing out in the forest. He said that we could go free if I gave him my necklace. It is worth a very large amount of money, you see." Naruto said grimly. "I gave it to him instead of fighting him off, which I had the ability to do. He killed my best friend immediately after that. He planned on killing me too, but I acted as I should have from the start. After I killed him, the only recognizable object on his corpse was the necklace. It reminds me of my greatest failure, but there's more to it than that."

"There is more to it?" Lee asked. His curiosity seemed to be growing by the second.

"There's more to everything, really. Continuing with the story… I convinced myself that I was not a ninja, and that to be a ninja is to be loyal to a village and take orders from a village leader or a Kage. I managed to keep myself believing that until recently."

"What has changed?" Lee asked. His curiosity was sparked to a greater extent at the thought of Naruto changing what he believed so suddenly.

"I realized that I became a ninja when I killed that monster of a man. I became a ninja when I lost my innocence. Perhaps I truly became one when I first began to study jutsu. Regardless, I've come to the conclusion that I broke my promise long ago. I cannot keep holding onto a broken oath. To protect those important to me, I will do whatever it takes." Naruto said as he formed a hand sign. "Lee, go on a help Sai recover that bastard of an Uchiha. I'll take the Kaguya."

"You know of my clan?" Kimimaro asked in surprise. Few outside of the Land of Water seemed to know much about his clan.

"And you should know mine. Know my name, for it will be the name of the one who killed you. I am Naruto Senju, the son of Tsunade and the great grandson of Hashirama." Naruto said as a grin formed on his face. "And you are in my domain. Wind Style: Tornado of a Thousand Senbon"

In an instant, wind began to swirl around Kimimaro, and needles of wind chakra shot towards him at frequent intervals.

Seeing the distraction for what it was, Lee took off running to aid Sai in capturing Sasuke.

"Now that he's out of the way, I can make this quick." Naruto said. He formed a special hand sign at that. "Secret Jutsu: Chains of Eternal Binding"

As he said that, he canceled the wind jutsu and chains shot from the ground in the four cardinal directions and wrapped around Kimimaro. He was shocked when he found that he could not free himself. The chains were stronger than his bones were.

"Secret Jutsu: Complete Entrapment of the Eternal Binding Chains" Naruto said as his eyes went crimson. The jutsu always took a great deal out of him. In an instant, the origin of the chains began to spin, creating a large circle around him in the ground. It also completely wrapped his body in chains from his neck down.

"And finally, I can completely bring it to an end. "Secret Fuinjutsu: Ninja Funeral"

Immediately after Naruto said that, bandages came out of the ground from below Kimimaro and wrapped around him so extensively that he looked like a mummy. Seals were drawn all over the bandages though.

Naruto dropped to both knees as he released his hold of the fox's chakra.

"It's a good thing lying isn't the same as breaking my word." Naruto said with a short laugh. He had not killed Kimimaro like he had said he would. The first jutsu he used was intended for restraining an opponent. The second was intended for binding the opponent. The third was for taking the opponent captive. The Kaguya had his chakra sealed away, and he was in a stasis field due to the seals on the bandages. It would prevent him from attempting to escape.

'It's an even better thing that he was so confused. If he had used his Cursed Mark, he could have broken the first jutsu, which is necessary for the second and third jutsu to work.' Naruto thought. He glanced over his shoulder and grinned when he saw Izumo and Kotetsu enter the clearing.

"Did you have fun?" Naruto asked.

"You're the Hokage's son. What are you doing here?" Kotetsu asked in surprise.

"I thought I'd intervene and save a few lives. The guy I took out was unaffected by my poisoned tanto, so the only thing I could do was seal him up." Naruto admitted. He had used wind chakra to cut the tanto in key places so that it would break at a specific moment and the poisoned blade would hit the bone user in the face.

"That's impressive… for a civilian." Kotetsu said with a teasing laugh. He still found it humorous that the son of the Hokage was a civilian.

"You won't be able to say that tomorrow." Naruto said with a grin. "You guys might want to hurry up though. Rock Lee and Sai are probably fighting Sasuke Uchiha right now. I'm incredibly weakened right now."

'That's only because I haven't released that fucking seal I placed on my chakra, of course. I had to use the fox's chakra to stop my chakra from getting too depleted. The seal won't deactivate if my chakra nears lethal levels, after all.' Naruto thought. Releasing the seal would shoot his control for at least a day or two, which is why he had not deactivated it.

"Will you be alright?" Izumo asked.

"I'll be able to make it back with the asshole." Naruto said, pointing to the mummy. "How are the others?"

"Pretty much everyone had minor injuries. The most severe injuries belonged to Neji and Tenten. They both had a few broken bones." Izumo said. "I'm sorry, but we need to go ahead and assist in capturing Sasuke Uchiha. Be careful on your way back. You look worn out."

Nodding, Naruto walked over to Kimimaro and picked the bone user up. Holding him over his right shoulder, he began to make his way back to the village.

Only Izumo noticed that it was difficult for Naruto to do so. He was unaware that the Kaguya had very dense bones though.

* * *

><p>Naruto wanted to laugh when he arrived at the village gates. He was still holding Kimimaro over his shoulder, and he had an entourage present when he arrived. Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Shino, Kiba, and Hinata were all there. Naruto figured that Tenten and Neji were still in the hospital.<p>

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked in surprise. His question was repeated in various other wordings by everyone present outside of Tsunade and Shizune.

"If you want to know, ask Lee when he gets back. I don't feel like explaining everything again." Naruto said as he set the mummy down. "Mom, I have a real, living Kaguya right here."

Tsunade's jaw nearly dropped at that. She caught herself just in time to prevent it though.

"He has the kekkei genkai too." Naruto said.

She could not stop herself upon hearing that. The Kaguya clan was supposed to be extinct as a result of them attacking the Hidden Mist Village years earlier. It was incredibly rare to find a Kaguya, let alone one with their incredibly rare kekkei genkai. Only one percent of their clan activated it.

"That explains your use of those three jutsu." Tsunade said, looking over the mummy carefully. That jutsu was actually intended to be used on jinchuriki, but was effective on pretty much anyone. It was a very complicated jutsu to use, regardless of what it was used on, though. All three techniques were a mix of ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. After all, few people could create chains using ninjutsu. Those normally had to come from a storage scroll.

"Lady Hokage, what exactly is going on? What's a Kaguya?" Shikamaru asked. He was unfamiliar with such a term.

"The Kaguya clan was a barbaric clan from the Land of Water. They had a unique kekkei genkai that allowed them to manipulate their bone structure and density, but only a small portion of the clan actually unlocked the kekkei genkai." Tsunade answered. "The back-up that aided the Sound ninja was a Kaguya. Apparently, that ninja is the one wrapped up like a mummy."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. 'How did her son defeat a guy that even that Sound kunoichi feared? It took three of us to beat her, and she would have taken down one of us if not for those two chunin.'

"This isn't good." Tsunade said under her breath, suddenly diverting everyone's attention from what they had been focused on earlier.

Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto saw Kotetsu and Izumo approaching the gates carrying Lee and Sai.

"I'm going to go home and get some rest. I'll see you later." Naruto said, realizing that the mission had been a failure. It seemed everyone but Ino and Sakura realized it immediately.

"I'll see you later, Naruto." Tsunade said, looking at her son with a proud look in her eyes. She could see that he had grown. Even if the mission had been a failure, it seemed that there was one bright side.

"I want every to head home. The mission was a failure." Tsunade said grimly as she waited for the chunin to enter the village. She would have to check the genin for injuries.

* * *

><p><span>Author's Note:<span> Unless you aren't caught up with the purpose of this account, I'd like to make it clear that I am Advent of Shadows, and this account is for my abandoned stories. This is the fourth story I've uploaded on this account. The others are For Want of a Nail, Rebirth of Uzumaki, and Secret of the Leaf.


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